One final push needed

Hockey

Captain Tom Richford insists the Great Escape is not yet complete – despite Canterbury Hockey Club men hauling themselves out of the Premier Division relegation zone. The city club looked doomed in the national top flight after claiming a single point from their opening 11 games but five wins in the next six, including two at Polo Farm last weekend, means they can ensure safety if they win their final game at Wimbledon on Sunday (2pm). The bottom side will be automatically relegated while the second-bottom team will play-off for a place in next season’s top flight at Lee Valley, against three sides battling for promotion. Canterbury overhauled Cannock on Sunday and are now two points clear with Cannock set to host secondplaced Surbiton at the same time. Seventh-placed Beeston and East Grinstead in eighth face each other in Nottingham, meaning should Canterbury win at fourth-placed Wimbledon, they will finish eighth and avoid the relegation play-off. Richford said: “The message to the players has been, all our hard work and everything we have put into this since Christmas will mean nothing if we don’t finish the job this weekend. “We have managed to get ourselves into a fantastic position but the hard work is not over yet. We need to go one more time. If we can get a win, then we’re guaranteed at least eighth place.” After wins against Brooklands MU and Beeston at Polo Farm, Richford said: “We were pretty comfortable against Brooklands and although it looked close at the end, they took their keeper off and were throwing everyone forward. We should have scored more before that. Beeston was a tight game but we did enough to win it.”

round-up, pages

64-65.